Hair highlighting has been one of the mainstays of the professional salon industry. In this process, one or more locks of hair are usually segregated from the remainder and treated with a “highlighting” composition, which typically comprises peroxides and/or persulfates. The technical skill required to separate the target hair and mix and apply highlighting products to only those areas has kept this procedure mostly in the purview of hair salons. Previously, the segregation of hair was done by applying a plastic cap over the head and drawing small sections of hair through it.
More commonly now, hair is selected through weaving and then placed onto metallic foils (usually aluminum foil) that are then painted with the highlighting composition. This allows for smaller, more independent sections to be treated, resulting in a more natural highlighted look. Although the effect is visually more appealing, these procedures are time consuming and generally require the skill of a professional haircolorist. Salons charge accordingly—often in excess of 100 USD per service. A dispensing device for metallic foil that may be used in highlighting process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,608.
Commonly, hair salons use high lift powdered bleaches for highlighting effects. High lift bleaches, using combinations of sodium, potassium, and ammonium persulfate along with hydrogen peroxide at elevated pH, provide fast decolorization with an acceptable amount of hair damage. Up to seven levels of lift are possible using a single application of some off-the-scalp bleaches. These are difficult to use due to the need to combine the persulfate mixture with the peroxide immediately prior to use. The high volume peroxide may be irritating to skin and mucous membranes. The persulfate powders are dusty and can be irritating if inhaled. This procedure is also limited by the technology in that the metallic foils need to be opened periodically to determine the degree of decoloration. Thus despite the high demand for these effects, high lift treatments are relegated to a small corner of the at-home consumer market.
Hydrogen peroxide solutions have been formulated into hair lightening products for consumer use. Products such as SUN IN (RTM), A TOUCH OF SUN (RTM), and most recently SALON SELECTIVES LIGHTEN UP HIGHLIGHTING MOUSSE (RTM) have been introduced to give consumers a gradual highlighting effect. Hydrogen peroxide is unstable for storage at elevated pH (generally greater than pH 4.0) and the decolorizing effect of it at low pH is relatively weak. Therefore multiple applications of low pH products applied repeatedly over time are required to achieve a desired lightening effect. Further, these are whole-head lightening effects. Further examples of bleaching compositions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,484 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,249.
The highlighting composition used, whatever its type, should be carefully applied on the locks of hair to be treated and should not spread or leak to adjacent sections of hair. Leaking of the highlighting composition is likely to compromise the overall resulting look and may also stain the user's clothes.
In addition to the aluminum foil discussed above, various systems have been proposed for preventing leaking of the composition. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,653 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,168 disclose applicators for transferring color-altering material from a rigid substrate to hair or fibers.
Methods have also been proposed in which the strands of hair to be colored are pulled inside a tube, for example using a hooked device, the tube being then filled with a dye or bleach composition. These and other systems have been described in the patent literature, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 2,655,924, U.S. Pat. No. 2,819,721, U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,937.
However none of the systems proposed until now have proven entirely satisfactory and there is still a need for an easy to use, non-messy, quick and/or cheaper system for dispensing a barrier material between a lock of hair to be highlighted and its environment (e.g. the rest of the hair, the user's hands or clothes).
Tape dispensing devices are known, but have rarely been used in the hair care field. Examples of documents disclosing tape dispensing devices in a non-hair care environment are U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,668, U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,879, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,182, U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,311, U.S. Pat. No. 4, U.S. Pat. No. D448,415, U.S. Pat. No. D446,246, U.S. Pat. No. D411,859, WO98/14393